title: Disturbed B cell subpopulations and increased plasma cells in myasthenia gravis patients.
abstract: Whether there is a general perturbation of B and plasma cell subsets in myasthenia gravis (MG) has not been investigated so far. Here we performed a detailed flow cytometric analysis of blood and if available thymic tissue in order to detect MG-specific and therapy-induced changes. We observed significant differences in the distribution of B cell subsets in MG patients, yet these were mainly attributable to medical treatment. Furthermore MG is associated with significantly increased frequencies of plasma cells that were especially activated in purely ocular disease manifestation. In contrast to thymoma, B cell subset distribution in hyperplastic thymus could be distinguished from peripheral blood, however both tissues were not significantly enriched with plasma cells. Thus B cell differentiation in general is not defective in MG, but modified by therapy and enhanced frequencies of plasma cells can be detected in MG patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Neurology, Charité-University Medicine Berlin, Germany; Department of Neurology, Charité-University Medicine Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: siegfried.kohler@charite.de.
authors.forename: Siegfried
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kohler
authors.forename: Thomas Oskar Philipp
authors.initials: TO
authors.lastname: Keil
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Swierzy
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
authors.forename: Hanne
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schaffert
authors.forename: Mahmoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ismail
authors.forename: Jens Carsten
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Rückert
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Alexander
authors.forename: Falk
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hiepe
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gross
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thiel
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Meisel
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015703:Antigens, CD; D016175:B-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology*; D010950:Plasma Cells / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens
keywords: Autoimmunity; B cells; Immunology; Myasthenia gravis; Plasma cells